jabberwaoc december 2014 · 2018. 2. 25. · congratulations to ursula for winning the bronze medal...
TRANSCRIPT
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DOUBLE BRONZE for Ursula at World Masters in Brazil
JABBERWAOC
Vol.42 No 4 December 2014
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Editorial
Congratulations to Ursula for winning the Bronze Medal in both the Sprint and the Long W80 Course at the World Masters Orienteering Championships held in Brazil this year. Ursula’s wonderful achievement also demonstrates orienteering is a sport giving a long career and certainly raises WAOC’s profile in the reflected glory. Ursula describes the events on page 9 and specially mentions that Wednesdays clubnight training aided her fitness and technique. See the Brazilian maps on pages 11 and 13. Nearer to home, congratulations to Peter Duthie for his 100th Parkrun (page 8) and to all WAOC member participants in these parkruns, also advertising WAOC. Enjoy the descriptions of these races and all the training and event fixtures to come. Please note the CompassSport Cup Heat for WAOC is on Sunday 15th March 2015 at Sherwood Pines, near Ollerton. Put this Level B Event in your new diaries to ensure WAOC qualifies for the Final. Wishing you and all your families a very Happy Christmas and fun orienteering throughout 2015, Hazel Bickle Send your orienteering news and views to [email protected] or post to 24 Church Street, Great Shelford, Cambridge CB22 5EL by 2 nd March 2015, the final Copy Date for next issue
Chairperson’s Chat – Peter Woods
December 2014 It is at this time of year when we are disappointed to discover that much vaunted specials on TV turn out to be just compilations of highlights and outtakes from the year that is coming to a close. So, with that in mind, please adjust your expectations for this festive edition of Chairpersons Chat. Firstly, some edited highlights. Numbers participating at our events at Ampthill, Mildenhall and Maulden this season have been gratifying, with near record turnout in some cases. This does mean we are liable to fall victim to O-Murphy’s law, which states you will always need more maps than you printed even when you take into account O-Murphy’s Law when deciding how many to print. So Quantity is good, and Quality is good too: Our controller at Maulden has commended Guro on 97.7% of participants finishing with a valid run, which is one measure being used to assess event quality. And although my own orienteering has been limited by injury recently, I enjoyed immensely running the Green course at Mildenhall with 22 controls in less than 5.5 km – thanks to Steve Hinshelwood’s planning on an area we had been forced to avoid using recently due to A11 road widening.
Now I should slide in some repeats before an advertising feature: One of my first Chats was about whether WAOC would or should try to use social media, in particular Facebook, to communicate with members and try to reach a new audience. Although the club does have a Facebook page, it has not been a priority even though this sort of thing needs to be kept up to date with frequent additions and updates. I’m pleased to tell you that Mike Capper has volunteered to take over looking after the WAOC Facebook page and you will see that he has already made a big impact. Even if you do not have a Facebook account you can view the club page on the following link:
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https://www.facebook.com/pages/West-Anglian-Orienteering-Club/458477944238938 I’d like to thank Mike for taking this on. And if you do have a Facebook account I urge you to get on there and do some Liking. WAGAL by name and waggle by nature
If you look on the club website now you will see the 2014 WAGAL champions listed, as well as the table of points for everyone in the club who ran at one or more qualifying events. This year we have introduced Super-Vet categories so that there are now two new champion classes and the age breaks for the Veteran categories have been revised. This is where the outtakes section would appear, because it took me about three days of fumbling to get this right, even though the information provided by Ursula (Celebrity Guest Star), who calculates all the WAGAL Scores after each event, was flawless. Apologies to anyone who was confused by the on-line table of champions changing several times before settling down with the correct winners.
Hmm, must be time for another repeat… A year ago we tried sending out a form to all of our members so that volunteers could indicate preferences for helping at events. I would like, belatedly, to thank all of you who responded, but overall we did not receive enough responses for this to give us a different way of recruiting helpers at our events. Fortunately, you are much better at actually helping than in filling in forms! And so we have continued to recruit helpers much as we have done before, and we are looking at ways we can make helping simpler and less time consuming. For example, we are considering offering on-line pre-entry to all our Level C events to reduce the load on the registration team, and reduce queuing, as we did at Maulden recently. At the same event we tested an ad hoc wireless network link between two separate tents so as to allow entry by dibber, which does not quite rank with landing a space probe on a comet, but does give a further option for simplifying registration in future. We would also like to help members build up expertise. This year, Caroline has hosted a successful Event Safety Workshop, and a forthcoming Mapper’s Course has filled up so quickly that there may well be enough demand to justify another one later in the year. We also intend to make sure we have enough qualified First Aiders in attendance at our events and so there may be broadcasts regarding first aid courses in the New Year. Older viewers will remember that typical events always included a “Red” course, and that planners would usually ask whether they really needed to include this because usually only two or three people ever ran it, and their controller would usually insist, that, yes, there did need to be such a course, and so there usually was, and two or three people usually did turn up to run it. More recently there has been much more flexibility in the range of courses at events, “Red” has been renamed “Long Orange”, and WAOC’s events generally have not included this course. We have noted that some other local clubs have been offering this option and in some cases have seen substantial numbers entering. So, as an experiment , we made sure we offered a Long Orange course at two events this Autumn. And two or three people turned up to run it each time. We can’t be surprised by this low take-up but it is disappointing nonetheless. I think it was
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worth trying, if only to show that we had not been depriving a significant number of their favourite course.
And so, as this episode finishes, it is now customary to spoil it with gratuitous previews of the next one: The Christmas and New Year break is an ideal time to look forward to the Orienteering opportunities on offer in 2015. Entries are open for the Scottish 6 Days – this year associated with the World Orienteering Championship; the JK2015 is being held in the Lake District, and entries for this are also open. I thought it was worth reminding you of these in case they had been completely overshadowed by the Thetford Thrash, which is also open to on-line entries, but only until 21 January.
Happy Christmas, and I look forward to seeing you at Santon Downham and at Croxton, or perhaps even at Wimpole on January 4th? WAOC Committee
Chairman: Peter Woods (01223 721433) [email protected]
Secretary: Rakesh Chandraker (01223-440319) [email protected]
Treasurer: Cath Pennington (01223
2333931) [email protected]
Captain: Graham Louth (01223 246145)
Junior
Captain:
Thomas Hemingway Fixtures
Secretary:
Bob Hill (01487 834183)
Convenor: Peter Allen (01954-211446)
Mapping
Secretary:
Neil Humphries (01462 434859)
Membership Secretary:
Anne Duncumb (01223 843064) [email protected]
Equipment Officer:
Caroline Louth (01223 246145) [email protected]
Website
Maintainer:
Ben Holland 07787 508093
Publicity: vacant – would you like to fill this
role?
Jabberwaoc
Editor:
Hazel Bickle 01223 842416
Colour-coded
Awards:
Ian Smith (01920 822421)
Junior Coordinator:
vacant – would you like to fill this role?
Development Chairman
Chris Morley (01223 316400) [email protected]
Subs time again! Thank you to those of you who have already renewed your
WAOC/BOF sub. We hope you will all want to continue your membership of WAOC. BOF members should have received their renewal notices by now - so what about doing it this weekend? It's really easy and quick on line. Club only members will find a renewal form in with their magazine - or I will email a copy to those of you who read J/W online.
Welcome to New members Tim Herod from Offord Darcy Philip Withnall from Cambridge Edwina Yassen from Great Cambourne We hope you will enjoy Orienteering with WAOC - Anne Duncumb (Membership Secretary)
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WAGAL The last event of the season was of course at Maulden and decided some of the final placings, with none more closely contested than the Supervet Women, with 1st and 2nd separated by 3 points in nearly 4400. As we announced last December we have stripped out the Supervets (55+) from the Vets and we have also sent the M/W40s up to the Senior category, so we have ended up with a bigger Champions list which has to be split in two halves (sorry about the formatting).
Junior Men Junior Women Senior Men Senior Women Andrew Stemp Jaya Chand Stephen Borrill Guro Harstad Alex Wetherill Erica Fox Brian Cowe Alice Hodkinson Daniel Hague Eleanor Low Jason Dunning Helen Bickle
Veteran Men Veteran Women Supervet Men Supervet Wom en Dil Wetherill Rachel Pocock Michael Bickle Ursula Oxburgh
Neil Humphries Helen Hague Alun Roberts Seonaid Dudley David Cronk Alison Fox Peter Woods Janet Cronk
The most closely contested categories were, naturally, the Vet and Supervet ones, so it’s really good to have been able to separate them. There are some interesting new names in all positions in the tables – note father and son, mother and son, mother and daughter. Very well done, everyone. Next year’s 6 WAGAL events are: 1 Feb Croxton 7 Mar Therfield Night 15 March CSCup Sherwood Pines 26 Apr Ferry Meadows + Ortons 25 Oct Bush Heath also EAL 6 Dec Rowney Warren If you have not tried a night event before why not come to a couple of club night trainings (Wed at 6:30, details on the WAOC website)? You can get used to running in the dark while borrowing a WAOC head torch, also available to borrow on 7 March. With just 4 events to count you don’t need to run at night if you don’t want to: just turn up at the day events and run your socks off. Ursula Oxburgh
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Spring Club Nights Wednesday night training sessions are taking a short break and will restart on 14th January with an event at Milton Country Park. This term we have the indoor championships (which is a must for everyone and especially for those who prefer to orienteer in the warm and dry), the new area of Astronomy & Madingley and a return to many of the favourite areas from last year.
Date Location
14th Jan Milton Country Park
21st Jan* University Athletics Centre, Indoor Micro O
28th Jan* Newnham College
4th Feb West Cambridge
11th Feb* Burrells Field
18th Feb* Churchill & Astronomy & Madingley Rise
25th Feb* Girton
4th Mar* Coe Fen Micro O
11th Mar Ely
18th Mar* Impington and IVC
25th Mar* Harlton Clunch Pits
* Awaiting confirmation of permission.
Costs and timings remain as last term. Further details are put on the website and emailed to the club night list before each session. If anyone would like to be added to (or dare I say it - taken off) the club night’s email list, please contact me.
Helen Bickle ([email protected]) Training tip: 1) I’ve been told that at the moment with few competitions out there, this is the ideal time to build up stamina so why not plan a few longer runs over the Christmas holidays. 2) With the excuse of short days (or if you have a few hours to spare in a particularly boring parliamentary committee) it is also the ideal time for armchair training. There are two games for testing your knowledge of map symbols on the BOF website: http://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/page/games and there is another game at:- http://www.sporcle.com/games/Steerpike/orienteering-control-descriptions which will test your knowledge of control description symbols.
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3) Ursula (the Club’s very own double bronze medallist from the WMOC) credits club nights as an essential part of her training so if your New Year’s resolution is to improve your orienteering or to get fit write the upcoming dates of club nights in your diary today (restarts 14th Jan – have I mentioned that yet?).
Logic Puzzle 8 – Bruce Marshall The map shows 14 control features. Your task is to place a control flag beside each feature. The flag can only be North, East, South or West of the feature, and no flags can be in adjacent squares, not even diagonally. The numbers around the edge give the number of flags in that row or column. Have fun! (Solution on page 16)
Planning Tip: Assembly, Start and Finish The assembly area should lie on the map. Choose a reasonable distance to Start and from Finish e.g. 1km for Juniors and older participants. Starting on the best terrain may cause longer walks but this is rarely necessary in East Anglia. Do remember that families with split starts means parents moving between Start and Finish multiple times. No-one is at their best after an extra 5km before their run! Helpers also need to go from their car to Assembly or Start and back before and/or after they run. The Start must always be on a mapped feature. Place the Start position so those waiting to Start cannot see where routes diverge. To separate competitors who have yet to start and those who have finished, it is advisable to locate the Start some distance from the Finish. At the Finish chose a suitable run-in for everyone. It is preferable for the competitive orienteers to have an easier last leg than for beginners to be compelled to navigate through a final section that is too difficult. Remember also something that is easy for a 20 year old may be more difficult for 10 year old and 70 year old orienteers. Avoid: long uphill slopes, a long finish across large fields, deep ditches or obstructing fences and long stretches with cross-country running along ‘streamers’.
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The Finish is often the only part of the courses seen by parents and other spectators so they may judge the whole course by the Finish. The last control should be placed so all competitors easily see the finish when they arrive there or some distinct terrain object ‘leads’ to the Finish e.g. path, road. Mark with streamers if the route from the last control is more difficult than the correct standard for the Junior courses.
WAOC Latest Event: Maulden Woods 7th December 2014.
Thank you to Guro for some challenging courses.
Photos by Peter Duthie https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10204710983988234.1073741855.1045587811&type=1&l=fc85ac2a3a
WAOC Runners Report - Peter Duthie BOF may now be a staid and middle-aged 47 years old, but parkrun has just turned ten years old and is still growing rapidly. The WAOC Runners contingent continues to enjoy Wimpole (363 runs to date), with the occasional trip further afield – with 303 locations and counting in the UK there is plenty of choice. The park looked good on at 9am on Saturday with a
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covering of horefrost, and O-studs seemed to help, especially running up ‘the hill’. The course may be a little slower in the winter, but seems to favour orienteers over those more used to tarmac. Twenty from WAOC have run to date - come and try it out! http://www.parkrun.org.uk/wimpoleestate/ Our collection of red ‘fifty’ shirts continues to grow, and Peter D was the first to be presented with a black ‘hundred’ shirt in the name of WAOC (Russ got there first, but with a camracers affiliation). Many thanks to Peter and Sue W for the celebratory cake! Like orienteering, volunteering is an essential part of parkrun, and in doing our fair share, we have helped to keep the WAOC name to the fore. Cambridge Milton Park now has a junior parkrun on Sundays, and plans are advanced for another at Wimpole. Compared to Wimpole, our Thursday night runs have been perhaps a little less regular since the clocks changed this year, due to injury and work commitments, but the e-mailing list helps establish whether there is a quorum each week.
Peter Duthie on his 100th Parkrun. Photo : Mike Rose via Facebook
Ursula’s (M)utterings
With thanks to CompasSport for letting us re-publish Ursula’s article. Because 2015 is my 80th year I decided I had to go to WMOC even though Brazil was a long way away and not my first choice for an orienteering venue. Since I run very slowly in terrain and faster on smooth surfaces and am reasonably quick at route choice I regard myself as a Sprint specialist and having won Bronze in the WMOC Sprint 5 years ago my aim was to attempt to repeat that this time. I knew I needed to get fitter so 15 months ahead I very cheekily asked Paul Murgatroyd if he would help me with a training programme and he certainly has. Next, a trapped lumbar nerve took 4 months out of the programme so it was February of this year that I finally got going at building up my stamina. I have found
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few things harder than setting out on coldish February days to run the roads round my home: I seemed to make no progress over the weeks and it all just felt horrible. Had I not been keeping a training diary for Paul I don’t think I would have persisted. Soon Paul was urging me to incorporate some faster bits into my running – fartlek?? intervals??? – I just didn’t seem to have the 2 speeds I needed; it felt like leklek and intervals on the road (fortunately it is normally a very quiet road!) ended in extreme frustration. Because the nearest hill of note is a 20 minute drive away I had already joined a gym and got stuck into the hills programme on the treadmill: then in July I discovered the joys of the treadmill intervals programme as well, which is how I came to love intervals. As I am hopeless at pacing myself I appreciate the steady, inexorable nature of the task on a treadmill and found I could increase my effort gradually over the weeks. Our Wednesday club night training sessions, run jointly by WAOC and CUOC, have also provided welcome relief from boring road running – in fact in the end I happily gave up the road running and relied on Wednesday nights and weekend O events to get the distance in. The beginning of November is an unusual time for WMOC but it suited me well as I could put the horror of the long walks in and out and physically demanding courses at the JK, Northern Champs, British Champs and Lakes 5 Days behind me and concentrate on my speed rather than extreme stamina as I knew that a W80 would get sympathetic treatment at WMOC, both in terms of distance to the Start and length of courses. I left for Brazil knowing that I had done a fair amount of training but also feeling that I had not come to the end of what I might achieve. I arrived at the hotel in Porto Alegre (an unattractive town, to say the least), met up with many of the other Brits and spent the next day trying and largely succeeding due to the sterling efforts of David May (Assistant IOF Advisor) to knock some sense into the chaotic bussing arrangements, to which I had already committed 50 Euros and on which I and many others were going to be dependent for getting to and from the various event venues. English was the official language for the competition, which was hard on the organising team as very few of them were at all fluent in it and naturally very few overseas contestants had any Portuguese. The competition began the next day. My plan for WMOC, such as it was, was to concentrate on the Sprint and let the Long take care of itself. I realised that neither Sprint course would play to my strength of rapid route choice round complex buildings, so I was not hopeful of success. There was nothing to recommend the Sprint Qualification, run in a flat city park in the rain: I ran as hard as I could and came third, with Ebba-Lisa first and Bernice (both SWE) second. Eide (NOR) came 4th and ran most of the legs at around my pace but made one mega error. There was no cover and it rained very hard, so the contents of my rucksack, as well as I, got well soaked. Even my passport, in my bumbag, in my rucksack, got crinkly edges to its pages but it’s a quality document and as it dried out I am happy to report that the crinkly edges disappeared. I subsequently tried to wash the smell out of my socks but ended up throwing them away. Although we had already checked out, when we returned for our luggage our fantastic hotel (largely occupied by orienteers, many of them Swedes) offered us the use of their showers so I was able to get warm and dry before embarking on the bus journey up into the hills to Canela, a lovely little town with a penchant for year-round plastic Christmases. The next day was the Sprint Final and it was hot. Leg cover was required so I was wearing my thinnest O trousers and top and decided to use my trusty Inov8 Flyrocs
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rather than dobs – definitely the right decision for me. I found a shady place and waited for my start. I had to run as hard as I could for the 0.9K. Porto Alegre – Canela – Säo Francisco de Paua – RS – Brazil http://www.wmoc2014.org.br/en/resultados/
1.There was a tricky route choice right from the start kite – an immediate zig zag up to the L which gave an excellent attack point. 2. Run hard through a gap and it was apparent through the thin trees. 3. I had found the route, through a gap in an uncrossable fence but then a WMOC ‘official’ shouted “No, lady! No lady! Not that way! Fence there”, so I had to remonstrate with him and show him my map - Splitsbrowser reckons this cost me 23 seconds. Needless to say I was not pleased and was not that polite with my comment as I was running away but I didn’t lose focus. Not sure how he had been briefed for his role but I suspect he did not challenge Bernice and Ebba-Lisa as they came through after me.
Scale 1: 4,000 2m contours
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4 and 5 were without incident, though I see I lost 17 secs on the way to 5 – can’t remember why. 6. I definitely chose the best way to 6, down through the fast open, then the path and R into the control. At this point both my 1 minute (Bernice) and my 2 minute (Ebba-Lisa) were behind me and I was leading the race by a mere 7 seconds. 7. This was my Neil Crickmore leg as the line takes you down through grot and then up through open wood (my route), whereas the best route is undoubtedly back up on the fast open and attack from a very clear thicket corner. 8. At least 7 was a private mistake (56 seconds) but then, out of breath, I emerged from the wood and failed to take a bearing to my final control, instead looking round trying to connect the map with the complex ground – I went to the wrong last control (another 56 seconds) in full sight of those at the finish who were waiting for me. So I ended up with a Bronze, which had been my aim, I finished a Sprint in 13:13 and I loved every second of it. It was amazing to be able to run as fast as I could for the whole of the course. Obviously the course was a bit short as the other 2 ran it in under 12 minutes but as one who has been used to running the same 2 British Sprint courses in a day as a W55 and at 0.60 of the length run by a top M21 it is amazing to get a course at .36 of the length run by M35/40. No wonder I love WMOC – it’s the only place where I get to run a proper sprint and I absolutely love the feeling.
A day off next with the Sprint Medal ceremony suffering various organizational hiccups, quite an important one being the absence of a Union flag for GBR as the organisers had only acquired an England one and the GBR flag carrier was rather clear that she was not going to carry that. Fortunately Nick Barrable had taken out a full size flag in case of need so we were able to use that for the Opening Ceremony as well as for the medal presentations.
In the first Long Qualifier (1.4K + 30m) I discovered on the way from 1 to 2 that an area mapped as rough open with a stream under and wide spaced undergrowth green lines was really extremely rough, with small trees piled up on one another, brashings and a nice amount of marsh underneath it all. The Swedish women were
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just so much faster than me on that leg (did they notice the bendy ride which went via a stony area and avoided the lot – I missed that completely?). Despite this leg I could barely believe that I had completed the course in just 26 minutes but then it was won in 17.
The second Qualifier (1.8K + 50m), on the same area as the Final, was somewhat longer and we were introduced to the form line hill (a joke) and again the connection line went across a similar area to the day before, but marshier, wider and greener and without an undergrowth screen and I went through again though this time on a line which no-one had done before – not good - and again with hindsight (but not until after the Final when we got both maps back together) there was an amazing ride which avoided the whole thing and which I missed – not a good leg but on the other hand I did avoid the marsh which swallowed some people up to the waist! I thought there was some questionable mapping which affected my route choice from 2 to 3 and I had some difficulty in squeezing myself between 2 strands of a 5 stranded crossable fence but I was 4th in 44 mins as Eide, the Norwegian, had an error free run. Even so I would go out 3rd from last in the final, but after yet another rest day.
The Final day (1.7 + 45m), on the same area again, was hot with very limited shade in the assembly area but another advantage of being 80+ is that you get a ride to the Start if the distance is over .8K – fantastic – another perk!
1. A form line shallow re-entrant – extremely shallow and filled to overflowing with uneven lumps of dead vegetation, amongst which it was only too easy to nestle a
Fazenda dio Ipè,
Fazenda Parque da
Serra Scale 1:10,000
Contour interval 5m
http://www.wmoc2014.org.br/en/resultados/
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control. This was my only success of the Long competition – I was easily the fastest to it by adopting a conservative approach along the ride to an attack point. After that there was very little difficulty:
2. Compass to the rescue (incidentally NOT my Australian S Hemisphere compass as recommended by the organisation but a Magnetic Equator one as checked with Silva).
3. Went too high in order to be safe.
4. Bernice overtook me on the road run and I followed her in to 4: I really should have tried harder to keep up with her. Now we were on terrain we had run on the day before.
5. A conservative route via a path: I should have gone straight.
6. I was tentative looking for a small clearing on the top of a spur - missed the info on my control descriptions that the route was taped from the control. It was so obvious when I got there: should have run harder.
7. Down to the crossing and up diagonally to the edge of the wood.
8. Just as fast as possible on to the finish. After my spectacular success at 1, my Splitsbrowser line descends gently and evenly to the finish. Bernice won in 28:03, Ebba-Lisa was second in 29:36 (she’s a faster runner but messes up more than Bernice) and I came 3rd in 36:20, so I’m still a long way off matching them in terrain. I see from the splits that Eide was beating me to 4 but then made a massive error going to 5, which secured my Bronze although I did not know it at the time.
If our Sprint courses erred on the short side, our Long courses were definitely so, maybe because they were the shortest on offer and so were serving W85 and the sole M95 (who took nearly 2 hours in the Final and attracted a media frenzy each time he finished)? Did it make any difference to the final result? I think not: the best woman won.
What of the terrain for WMOC? I was unimpressed: it seemed a very long way to travel for such reach-me-down areas. The Sprint Qualifier area was really unsuitable, in my opinion: the Sprint Final area turned out well for us - I’m not sure what the runners of longer courses thought - and my 2 Long areas had no technical challenge of note. Our Long Course maps were OK but an omitted steep earth bank beside a road, inadequate indication of the roughness of some areas and some ill-defined control sites were less than ideal and the marked crossing point of one 5 strand fence did not materialize (that’s no fault of the mapper). It could be that those with longer courses will have a different view – their Sprint Final was very different from mine and our Long courses could not stray very far from the Start and Finish terrain. So where to next? I loved my improved fitness so the programme has to continue: I’m embarking on another stamina phase – I just hope I have more success at it than I had last time. Having completely messed up the last 2 controls in the Sprint I’m off to Gothenburg for next years’ WMOC Sprints to see if I can manage an error-free sprint run (but back after that for the Scottish 6 Days).
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The Seconds Savers – PART 2 - Hally Hardie
This is an article that was produced in Compass Sport several years ago and is well worth a revisit with a few updates.
'Take care of the seconds and the minutes take care of themselves,' April 2003.
Part 2. Saving Seconds in the Car Park.
Study a copy of the map if it is displayed or view the map made available for white and yellow runners. You may have a map from a previous event you ran in this area.
Studying the base map is recommended at larger events and followed by elite runners so not seen as an unfair advantage. One orienteer ‘joked’ he made scale models of the areas in his back garden!
Try to get a picture of, or a feel for, any major directional features. How old/accurate is the map? Do you know the mapper's style? If it's summer some of the wet features may be less reliable. The opposite can be the case in winter when pits and depressions can become ponds, and we even get small lakes in some low lying ground. Vegetation will also change throughout the year and between years.
2.1. Allow yourself time to note any map corrections.
2.2. Often, white and yellow courses will be on view, allowing you to mark the start and finish.
2.3. Always protect your control descriptions and map. Even if it isn't raining, marshes, sweat, mud and blood can have a detrimental effect on them. Reading a muddy map can be impossible, but you can always remove a muddy plastic bag if necessary. You may waste time finding wet grass or a ditch to wash a muddy waterproof map!
2.4. If you don't understand a control description, ask someone at the Start. I orienteered for 6 months before I knew what a re-entrant was.
2.5. Tape up shoe and gaiter laces with electrician's tape to avoid twigs and heather getting caught in them and tripping you up or allowing them to work loose.
2.6. Check the map scale and if applicable fix the correct bezel on your compass. If you know your 100m pacing you could also stick on a pace scale.
2.7. Check where North is and whether you are already on the map.
2.8. Check your distances on the ground with the map.
In all cases,
2.9. Allow time to get to the start, doing warm up and body preparation en route, and making an assessment of the terrain vis a vis the map (if available).
Editor – Further ‘Seconds Savers’ continued in the next issue of Jabberwaoc.
Please send in your views on baseplate versus thumb compasses and the various sorts of control description sheet holders you find works best for you.
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Club WAGAL Positions at http://www.waoc.org.uk/n.humphries/waoc/wagal_index.htm
BO Ranking list: http://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/page/rankings Pos. Name Club YOB M/F Points Contributing scores 1 (183 +1) Robert Campbell WAOC 1966 M 7654 1283, 1268, 1288, 1269, 1258, 1288 2 (300 +1) James Haynes WAOC 1993 M 7467 1255, 1314, 1231, 1257, 1278, 1132 3 (348 +2) Dil Wetherill WAOC 1964 M 7410 1225, 1227, 1240, 1251, 1247, 1220 4 (446 +1) William Louth WAOC 1998 M 7288 1251, 1208, 1209, 1202, 1202, 1216 5 (485 +4) Brian Cowe WAOC 1976 M 7242 1194, 1228, 1217, 1209, 1197, 1197 6 (515 +3) Graham Louth WAOC 1962 M 7213 1186, 1214, 1213, 1203, 1202, 1195 7 (526 +2) Tom Hemingway WAOC 1996 M 7202 1175, 1184, 1179, 1207, 1233, 1224 8 (604 +2) Sean Blanchflower WAOC 1973 M 7119 1195, 1177, 1173, 1179, 1184, 1211 9 (692) Jonathan Cronk WAOC 1992 M 7050 1200, 1239, 1201, 1159, 1088, 1163 10 (722 +1) Iain Stemp WAOC 1965 M 7022 1119, 1190, 1153, 1169, 1193, 1198
Quiz Solution:
WAOC FIXTURES 2015 Sunday 4th January 2015 Festive Score Event at Wimpole Hall, Cambridge as part of the National Trust's Wimpole Winter Festival .
An easy (yellow standard) course and a 60 minute Score course will be on offer to work off the Christmas festivities. 10am to 12 noon starts. £3 adults, £1 children. In addition, for newcomers, we are offering a 4-control accompanied orienteering walk at 10.30 am, 11.00, 11.30, and noon. All welcome.
Club Night 14th January - Training Night at Milton Country Park (then every Wednesday) Sunday 1st February - Thetford Thrash Day 2 at Croxton Heath, Thetford Saturday 7th March - Night Event at Therfield Health, Royston Sunday 26th April - Ferry Meadows and Ortons, Peterborough Sunday 13th September – Wimpole Hall, Royston Sunday 25th October – Bush Heath, Brandon Sunday 6th December – Rowney Warren, Shefford
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Keep the Date : Sunday 15th March 2015 CompassSport Cup Heat for WAOC at Sherwood Pines, near Ollerton, Level B Event from NOC Club of EMOA. WAOC needs as many members as possible in all age courses to compete to maximise the Club’s score. Please help ensure WAOC makes this year’s final.
Events EAOA Events have been taken from the EAOA fixture lists as of 15th December 2014. A full list of
events is available on the BOF web site where you can find more information on the events listed below. Always check before travelling. (www.britishorienteering.org.uk )
2014 December
28th HAVOC EAOA Level D
HAVOC Winter Get -together , Thorndon South, Brentwood, TQ607915 Entry times: 10.30 to 12noon. Dogs to be kept under close control. Organiser: Janet Biggs, [email protected]
2015 January
1st SOS EAOA Level D
New Year Novelty , Hilly Fields, Colchester, TL978255 Organiser: Christopher Childs
4 th WAOC EAOA Activity
Festive Score Event at Wimpole Hall , Cambridge, TL343511 Entry times 10am to 12 noon. Organiser: Peter Allen
11th HAVOC EAOA Level C
HAVOC Colour Coded , Belhus Woods, Aveley, TQ564825 Entry times: 10am to 12noon. Dogs to be kept under close control. Organiser: Colin Jackson , [email protected]
11th NOR EAOA Level C
NOR Colour Coded , Kelling Heath Holiday Park, Holt North Norfolk, TG118415 Entry times: 10.15 to 12.15. DOGS ON LEAD. Organiser: Karen Goldsworthy www.norfolkoc.co.uk
18th SOS EAOA Level C
SOS Colour Coded , Pods Wood, Colchester, TL918174 Entry times: On the Day. Organiser: Nancy Powell Davies
22nd CHIG SEOA Level D
CHIG North London Street League , Seven Sisters, Seven Sisters, TQ336890 Entry times: Registration & Start Times:18:30 – 19:30 Courses Close: 21:00. Organiser: Russell Peters CHIG.org.uk
25th SUFFOC EAOA Level C
SUFFOC Colour Coded , Knettishall Heath, Knettishall, TL955807 Organiser: Andrew Elliott , [email protected]
28th
SOS EAOA Level D
SOS Winter Mid-Week Street-O Nr 3, Parson's Heath , Parsons Heath, Colchester, TM021262 Organiser: John Le Seve
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Thetford Thrash Weekend
31st CUOC EAOA Level B
Icenian 2015 , Santon Downham, Thetford Organiser: Carrie Beadle , [email protected] cuoc.org.uk/events/4376/Icenian-2015/
February
1st WAOC EAOA Level C
Thetford Thrash Day 2 , Croxton Heath, Thetford, TL893880 Entry times: 10:00 am - 12:00 noon. Dogs to be under control at all times. Organiser: Catherine Pennington [email protected] www.waoc.org.uk
8th NOR EAOA Level C
NOR Colour Coded , Cockley Cley, Swaffham Norfolk, TF783038 Entry times: 10.15 to 12.15. DOGS ON LEAD. www.norfolkoc.co.uk
25th SOS EAOA Level D
SOS Winter Mid-Week Street-O, Nr 4 , Colchester Organiser: Julie Laver
March
1st SMOC EAOA Level C
SMOC Colour Coded and EA League , Brackmills, Brackmills, SP773580 Organiser: Dorien James , [email protected] www.smoc.info
1st LEI EMOA Level C
EMOA League Event Ratby Woodlands, Ratby, Leicester Organiser: Ursula Williamson
7th WAOC EAOA Level D
WAOC Night Event, Therfield Heath, Royston
8th NOR EAOA Level C
NOR Colour Coded , Pond Hills, Hempstead, Holt North Norfolk, TG100357 Entry times: 10.15 to 12.15. No dogs allowed. Organiser: Pat Bedder www.norfolkoc.co.uk
8th
DVO EMOA Level C
DVO Regional Event, Kedleston, Derby, SK305412 Entry times: 10:00 - 12:00. Organiser: Malcolm Spencer , [email protected] , 01629 583681 dvo.org.uk
15th
NOC EMOA Level B
CompassSport Cup Heat, Sherwood Pines, Ollerton Organiser: Hilary Palmer
21st EAOA Level D
British TrailO Championship , Twywell, Kettering Organiser: Anne Braggins
22nd SOS EAOA Level C
SOS Colour Coded , Writtle Forest, Writtle, TL648025
22nd SMOC EAOA Level D
Keyne -O, Linford Wood , Linford Wood, Milton Keynes, SP846405 Organiser: Ian Byrne www.smoc.info/
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April
12th HAVOC EAOA Level C
HAVOC Colour Coded and EAL , Epping Forest South West, Chingford
19th SMOC EAOA Level D
Keyne -O, Shenley Wood , Shenley Wood, Milton Keynes, SP822356 Organiser: Ian Byrne www.smoc.info/
26th WAOC EAOA Level D
Ferry Meadows and Ortons , Ferry Meadows and Ortons, Peterborough Organiser: Helen Hague www.waoc.org.uk
May
10th NOR EAOA Level D
NOR Colour Coded , Norfolk
17th SOS EAOA Level C
SOS Colour Coded , Hylands Park, Chelmsford
17th SMOC EAOA Level D
Keyne -O, Howe Park Wood , Howe Park Wood, Milton Keynes, SP829344 Organiser: Ian Byrne www.smoc.info/
June
14th SOS EAOA Level C
SOS Colour Coded , High Woods, Colchester
14th SMOC EAOA Level D
Keyne -O, Loughton Valley Park , Loughton Valley Park, Milton Keynes, SP827394 Organiser: Ian Byrne www.smoc.info/
21st
CHIG SEOA Level D
CHIG Urban Race , Loughton, Loughton
28th SMOC EAOA Level C
Milton Keynes Urban , Great Linford, Milton Keynes, SP854421 www.smoc.info
Jan Kjellström International Festival of Orienteeri ng 2015 3 rd - 6th April Friday 3 April - Sprint & TempO, Lancaster University, Bailrigg Campus Saturday 2 April - Individual Race, Ulpha Park & Barrow Fell & Pre-O, Haverigg Dunes Sunday 5 April - Long Distance Race Bigland Monday 6 April - Relays, Graythwaite [Club Captain enters teams] http://www.thejk.org.uk/jk2015/ Note: entry on line cheaper before 31st January 2015.
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Programme of events Day 6 Day Participate WOC Spectate
Friday Jul 31
Forres Sprint Qualifier (evening)
Saturday Aug 1
Inverness Campsite book in S6D register Nairn Open Sprint Race
Nairn Mixed Sprint Relay (18:00-19:15)
Sunday Aug 2
Keppernach Day 1
Forres Sprint Final (17:00-19:30)
Monday Aug 3
Glen Strathfarrar Day 2
Rest Day
Tuesday Aug 4
Darnaway Highland O-Fest Forres Open Sprint Race
Darnaway Middle Distance (12:00-15:30)
Wednesday Aug 5
Darnaway Day 3 (Middle Distance)
Darnaway Relay (14:00-18:00)
Thursday Aug 6
Darnaway Day 4
Rest Day
Friday Aug 7
Glen Affric Day 5
Glen Affric Long Distance (10:00-17:00)
Saturday Aug 8
Glen Affric Day 6
Scottish 6 Days 2015 www.scottish6days.com/2015
2nd - 8th August 2015
The 2015 event is based around Inverness, with three of the days in Moray and the other three in the glens SW of Inverness. The venues for this year have been chosen in order to allow competitors to compete in the Scottish 6 Days event on world championship areas and also to have the opportunity to spectate at the WOC2015 events as much as possible.